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Land transfer for Willow Square site rests on approved plan

Golden Years Society president Joan Furber speaks to Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council on plans for the former Willow Square site in Fort McMurray Alta. on Tuesday June 9, 2015. Andrew Bates/Fort McMurray Today/Postmedia Network

The province is waiting for an approved plan for the former Willow Square site before approving a land transfer.

Council voted Tuesday to direct the Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corporation to report on cost and time to build on five options for the former Willow Square site, from single-purpose seniors housing to mixed-use, as well as to request that the province complete the transfer of its part of the land.

"It's really a matter of the municipality and the community taking a look at what they need, being in the best position to determine and respect those needs," said Jessica Lucenko, communications director for the Alberta seniors ministry. "We're going to wait to transfer the land until we have an approved plan submitted."

At the meeting, the WBHD presented the results of an online survey it conducted and a demographic study on housing needs it commissioned from the Altus Group. The study said that existing facilities and a long-term care centre at Parsons Creek approved by the province would satisfy current seniors housing needs until 2024.

WBHD has been proposing a Community Campus development combining seniors housing, affordable housing, market housing and retail/office space, saying it would serve a range of housing needs and support an otherwise financially unsustainable seniors centre. Mayor Melissa Blake said the study dashed her hopes that the community could support some configuration that included an Aging-in-Place facility.

"I knew that it wasn't going to be economic enough to do it all on its own, independently, but the devastation is that I thought that we'd have capacity for two facilities and a range of services that would be different on the downtown site than the one on the hill," said Blake.

The motion moved by council directs the WBHDC to examine the cost of five options, including a single-purpose, seniors-only development, a mixed-used site similar to their existing plan, an Aging in Place development that combines housing and health care, the consolidation of all existing seniors housing, including Rotary House, into one location and a way to address housing needs of seniors in the rural area.

"What has happened is council has recognized that a broader range of both development and financing options have to be explored in order to determine the optimal land use for that parcel," said Mike Evans, consultant for WBHDC. "They've sent us away to do more detailed investigations on all of these options, even than we have done to date."

A number of seniors advocates at the meeting including Joan Furber, president of the Golden Years Society, opposed the plan, arguing that the municipality should explore debt financing to build a long-term care centre at the site. Luana Bussieres argued that the city should take control of the land themselves and figure out how to make an Aging in Place facility.

"It's just been so much time figuring out why this isn't going to work ... and not a lick of time spent getting people together and figuring out how to make this happen," Bussieres said.

Councilors asked whether the needs of seniors who left Fort McMurray for lack of housing were considered in the survey, and expressed concern over housing conditions for seniors. Coun. Tyran Ault said he would not support a facility without any seniors housing, while Coun. Lance Bussieres said he wouldn't support an option that wasn't seniors-exclusive.

Coun. Sheldon Germain moved an amendment to request that the province complete the transfer of its share of land on the site to the municipality, the WBHDC or both. Lucenko said the province would respect local decision making, but is waiting for an approved plan that reflects consultation and the needs assessment.

"We had asked that they consult with the community and determine the needs of the community," she said. "Since the community assessment shows that there's a need for mixed affordable housing, we agree ... and I would expect that that would be a part of the proposal."

The motion originally requested WBHDC to report back next March, but an amendment by Coun. Jane Stroud pushed that date forward to Nov. 24. Evans said that it would delay the project by one construction season. The corporation, which is wholly-owned by the municipality, must also return to council to let them know how much the report will cost.